Saturday, 12 October 2013

A Pilot Carelessness Might Have caused Associated Airline Crash.

According to the Nation ; The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) has revealed that the October 3rd
Associated Airlines crash that killed 14 people was caused by pilot
error. The agency explained that the preliminary readout and analysis of
the
flight recorder indicated that the right engine of the aircraft was
faulty.

The agency also said that preliminary
investigation indicated that the captain-in-command of the ill-fated
aircraft, Abdulrahman Yakubu, ignored the warning from the onboard
computer voice.

This was disclosed to journalists by the
Commissioner for AIB, Capt. Usman Muktar, while reading out the
preliminary readout and analysis of flight 361’s flight recorders in
Abuja yesterday.

He said the investigation was done in
AIB laboratory in Abuja in conjunction with international flight
recorder experts from Canada, who designed the laboratory.

Capt. Mukthar said the Flight Data
Recorder (FDR) contained approximately 47 hours in solid state memory,
while the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) contained thirty-two and a half
minutes of audio, which included internal conversation of two pilots,
radio calls, and the overall environment in the cockpit.

Muktar said that Associated Airlines
flight 361 was cleared for take-off by the Air Traffic Controller on
runway 18 left of the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA) Lagos, adding that
at that time, the wind was calm and weather was not considered a factor
in the accident.

He added that four seconds after the
engine power was advanced to commence take off roll, the crew received
an automated warning from the onboard computer voice which consisted of
three chimes followed by “Take off Flap, Take off Flap, Take off flap.”

He stated that this configuration
warning suggested that the flaps were not in the correct position for
take-off and there was evidence that the crew might have chosen not to
use flaps for the take-off.

According to him, “This warning did not
appear to come as any surprise to the crew, and they continued normally
with the take-off. This warning continues throughout the take-off roll.“

Capt. Mukhtar added that AIB was in the
process of verifying the accuracy of the flight data, adding that the
agency had not been able to confirm the actual flap setting and that AIB
was expected to determine this in the fullness of time.

The AIB commissioner added that the ‘set
power’ call was made by the captain and the ‘power is set’ was
confirmed by the First Officer as expected in the normal operations,
adding that approximately three seconds after the ‘power is set’ call,
the First Officer noted that the aircraft was moving slowly.

Approximately seven seconds after the
‘power is set‘ call, the internal aircraft voice warning system could be
heard stating ‘Take off Flap, Auto Feather’.

He explained that auto feather refers to
the pitch of the propeller blades, adding that in the feather position,
the propeller does not produce any thrust.

The Flight Data Recorder, he said, contains several engine related parameters, which the AIB was studying.

“At this time, we can state that the
right engine appears to be producing considerably less thrust than the
left engine. The left engine appeared to be working normally. The
aircraft automated voice continued to repeat, Take off Flap, Auto
Feather.’ “

According to an aircraft engineer, Sheri
Kyari, the flap on an aircraft is located at the trailing edge of the
wing. It is at the rear end of the wings.

Kyari, a former president of Pilots and
Aircraft Engineers in the defunct Nigeria Airways Limited, the function
of the flap when operational increases the surface area of the wing,
thereby generating enough lift at low aircraft speeds. This is when the
aircraft is taking off or landing.

Kyari, is convener and executive director, Centre of Aviation Safety and Research.

“When the flap is not set to the
required degree for take off, the aircraft will have to do a long
take-off run before gaining enough lift to lift-off the ground,” he
said.

Reading out the preliminary report, AIB
said “the standard ‘eighty knots’ call was made by the First Officer.
The first evidence that the crew indicated that there was a problem with
the take-off roll was immediately following the ‘eighty knots’ call.

“The First Officer asked if the take-off should be aborted approximately 12 seconds after the ‘eighty knots’ callout”

AIB added that the captain, in response
to the Flight Officer’s question to abort the take off, said that they
should continue, adding that the crew did not make V1 call, which is the
speed at which the decision to abort or continue a take-off is made, or
the Vr call, which indicates the speed at which it is planned to rotate
the aircraft.

The Commissioner added that normally, the non-flying pilot pulls back both the V1 and the Vr speeds,

He said that when the Vr was called, the
flying pilot pulled back the control column. The First Officer asked
the Captain ‘gently’, a word that indicated that the aircraft was not
performing normally.

He added that the aircraft did not
produce enough overall thrust and that it was difficult or impossible to
climb without risk of an aerodynamics stall.

An aviation expert, Mallam Muhammadu
Dodo, described aerodynamics as the streamline of air flow around the
aircraft due to its design. It enables it to attain a stable and safe
flight.

Immediately after lift-off, the aircraft
slowly veered off the runway, heading to the right and was not
climbing, and that the aircraft behaviour made ATC to ask the pilot if
Flight 361 operation was normal but that they did not respond, and that
31 seconds after the warning, the aircraft crashed.